ABOARD THE CARNIVAL HORIZON -- A brawl on the Carnival
Legend sailing off Australia in February has prompted a wide-ranging review of
security procedures, not only at Carnival Cruise Line but at all of the brands
controlled by Carnival Corp.
Carnival Cruise Line president Christine Duffy said Carnival
was taken aback by the outburst, which was captured in unflattering videos of
fights and beatings involving passengers and security team members.
"The one incident involved a family of 23 people who
came on board, frankly, looking for a fight," Duffy said. "And that
fighting started from almost the time the ship had sailed and went on for a
couple of days before we made the decision they needed to be taken off the
ship."
"We have not had issues like that, really, at that
level before, so we are looking at the corporate level to see what we need to
do so we can manage and handle [them] even before some of those incidents
escalate the way that they did. There are investigations and a commitment to
more training."
In a statement, Carnival Corp. said its updated security
protocols include a trained and deputized back-up team to assist security and a
policy to closely monitor disorderly guests "with mitigation actions to
include swift escalation and disembarkation."
Australian media reports after the ship returned to
Melbourne said that as many as 30 people were injured in the fighting. Duffy
said that one of the lessons drawn from the incident was that its ships in
Australia are further from port during voyages than in other parts of the
world, so security procedures are being changed to reflect that.
Duffy said the video that shows Carnival crew members
repeatedly kicking a passenger on the floor "doesn't reflect our values or
how we train our security officers." She added that not shown in the video
was the passenger resisting security officers who were trying to handcuff him.
As to whether the fights stained Carnival's reputation in
Australia, Duffy conceded that any widely reported negative development, such
as the fight, impacts brand attractiveness.
Chief marketing officer Kathy Mayor said that in monitoring
Carnival's media mentions after the brawl, "while we may have seen
potential negative impressions just during that small week window, we continue
to see very strong brand health metrics. There is no long-term damage that we
can see in those numbers," she said.